“We must not forget the lessons of history. Both the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were responses to abuses by government officials who thought they were above the law. We all agree that we want to protect our national security and that foreign intelligence gathering is fundamentally different from domestic surveillance. However, we should also agree that the power to invade people’s privacy must not be exercised unchecked. As we consider how to fix the Protect America Act, we must restore the fundamental freedoms that have been lost because of our recklessness. We must focus surveillance on terrorist activity and provide meaningful court review to protect the rights of Americans who will be spied on in our country. We must not trust this or any other administration to police itself. We must act now to restore much-needed checks and balances into this damaged law. We must restore respect for our Constitution that this Administration clearly does not care about.” (emphasis mine)

Howard J. Krongard, the State Department’s inspector general, has repeatedly thwarted investigations and censored reports that might prove politically embarrassing to the Bush administration, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform charged today in a 13-page letter.

The letter, signed by committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and released by the committee today, said the allegations were based on the testimony of seven current and former officials on Krongard’s staff, including two former senior officials who allowed their names to be used, and private e-mail exchanges obtained by the committee. The letter said the allegations were not limited to a single unit or project, but concerned all three major divisions of Krongard’s office — investigations, audits and inspections. (emphasis mine)

I saw it live.
When McConnel answered Conyer’s question with “none”, Conyers shoot him Such A Look.
Wish we could all send That Look to Mr. Bush regarding his comment about wishing he could serve in Iraq.
Altogether….Are you kidding us?

It’s something that got me thinking lately. If someone like Doris Kearns Goodwin were to write a history of the Bush presidency, it would run many thousands of pages. There is just so much wrong doing going on. Does P.J. O’Rourke realize how right he was?

I saw it live.
When McConnel answered Conyer’s question with “none”, Conyers shoot him Such A Look.
Wish we could all send That Look to Mr. Bush regarding his comment about wishing he could serve in Iraq.
Altogether….Are you kidding us?

“We must not forget the lessons of history. Both the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were responses to abuses by government officials who thought they were above the law. We all agree that we want to protect our national security and that foreign intelligence gathering is fundamentally different from domestic surveillance. However, we should also agree that the power to invade people’s privacy must not be exercised unchecked. As we consider how to fix the Protect America Act, we must restore the fundamental freedoms that have been lost because of our recklessness. We must focus surveillance on terrorist activity and provide meaningful court review to protect the rights of Americans who will be spied on in our country. We must not trust this or any other administration to police itself. We must act now to restore much-needed checks and balances into this damaged law. We must restore respect for our Constitution that this Administration clearly does not care about.” (emphasis mine)

I like that alot…however I wish it would have added;

“We must not trust this or any other administration to police itself…absolute power corrupts absolutely and there WILL be a time information is gathered for personal gain and not for national security…the fisa law allows for all information gathering and the only restriction is that the gatherers must show they gathered information for the purpose of national security and not for themselves”

I saw it live.
When McConnel answered Conyer’s question with “none”, Conyers shoot him Such A Look.
Wish we could all send That Look to Mr. Bush regarding his comment about wishing he could serve in Iraq.
Altogether….Are you kidding us?

Did Conyers remind him about the lies McConnell retracted last week?

He did ask him why he had testified one way to the panel and then after a call to the WH, reversed himself “180 degrees” (Conyers’ words.)
McConnel ducked.

Mel Watt talking with Mr. W about retroactive immunization. McC asserts that this is immun from “alleged surveillance” and claims he has no idea how many lawsuits there are. Watt asks about whether they have evaluated them for merit, and they say NO, civil division did it (but no comment about what outcome was, thanks, just blindly give us the immunity for the telecoms)

Which reminds me of an OT question. I was reading a biography of RFK a couple of weeks ago, and they talked about him being counsel to a House committee, and questioning witnesses, and I wondered, why doesn’t it work like that any longer? Let the lawyers question, and run the hearing, instead of five minute turns of grandstanding by the members?

Reposting my comment from below:
When I called Sen. Craig’s office earlier, I merely called to ask for his support of S2202. I just called back and spoke with an aide. He doesn’t know what the Senator’s position is. I asked him to ask around the office to see if anyone else knew. He said most of the staff was at lunch and asked if I would call back in a couple of hours. I asked him to please check that out in the mean time. He said he would, but that things were kind of up in the air around the office right now. I took that opportunity to point out that because of his recent run in with the law, that it might be something that had made him take a serious stand regarding the bill. Got the young man’s name and will be calling back.
I’d appreciate more of you calling Craig’s office in a coupla hours. The young aide’s name is AJ.
Well too bad that Craig’s personal actions have the office all up in the air, but they all having paying gigs and still have a job to do. Let’s find out how he feels and then use it if he tries to run again.
Y’all think?
(and back attcha Laura Doty. :))

I’m confused if a company were to cooperate with the government in a possible fishing expedition that had no basis for executing this proceeding is requesting a retroactive immunization from litigation?….

OT but kinda on topic. If you call your Senator’s office in Washington (hopefully through the 800 numbers) and you immediately follow that up with a call to each of his local offices, is your voice counted once or however many number of times as the Senator has offices? Doesn’t that mean, keep going, you ain’t done yet!

Lofgren: picking up on the immunization issue. Says why should we have immunization if you claim no one has done anything wrong? What other time periods do you want immunization for?

Mc: Says he will talk about it in closed session.

Why would a discussion regarding defining immunization of litigation be placed under “National Security” and therefore close the whole proceeding under a “closed session” when very likely our liberties have been abused….

“We must not forget the lessons of history. Both the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were responses to abuses by government officials who thought they were above the law. We all agree that we want to protect our national security and that foreign intelligence gathering is fundamentally different from domestic surveillance. However, we should also agree that the power to invade people’s privacy must not be exercised unchecked. As we consider how to fix the Protect America Act, we must restore the fundamental freedoms that have been lost because of our recklessness. We must focus surveillance on terrorist activity and provide meaningful court review to protect the rights of Americans who will be spied on in our country. We must not trust this or any other administration to police itself. We must act now to restore much-needed checks and balances into this damaged law. We must restore respect for our Constitution that this Administration clearly does not care about.” (emphasis mine)

I like that alot…however I wish it would have added;

“We must not trust this or any other administration to police itself…absolute power corrupts absolutely and there WILL be a time information is gathered for personal or political gain and not for national security…the fisa law allows for all information gathering and the only restriction is that the gatherers must show they gathered information for the purpose of national security and not for themselves”

but as a whole an very nice piece

What I bolded is what I’m talkin’ about! It’s the thing I think is most dangerous about putting all that information out to be picked through by politicians with an agenda and bureaucrats without conscience.

OT/just wondering when the GOP Corporate Candidate Hillary Clinton and her pro-insurance industry health-care plan will be a topic?
“She said she could envision a day when “you have to show proof to your employer that you’re insured as a part of the job interview —…Her health care plan would require every American to buy health insurance”
Yeah, stick-it to the people and give the insurance industry carte blanche and outta control premiums. Just like the Car and Home Insurance Companies.

This is not Universal Health Care, it’s a free-for-all Corporate Wet-dream.
What a two-faced republican corporate Bitch. I will NEVER vote for her

Not to belabor the point I made at #16, but I just saw article on Huffingtonpost. GOP’s Worst Nightmare Returns To Senate.
When we call this afternoon, should we warn AJ not to bend over to pick up a dropped pencil if the Senator is around.
(I know, I know, I’m bad.)

The rehtugs keep insisting on minimalization, existing statutes and Wannstein..” the law school hypo”. When the rethugs insist that the language was accidental like the retoactive immunity I grab my wallet. Con Men.

The Dems seem coordinated and purposeful and keeping the creeps(sorry Nixon 1972)Off Balance.

Habeas update: Folks — I’m hearing that Ben Nelson of Nebraska will vote for cloture but ultimately is leaning against the habeas bill at this point. If there are some Nebraska readers who are out there who haven’t made calls yet, please do — both Nelson and Hagel are critical votes to pressure. Thanks!

A quick drive-by to say how much I love this site and this community. It’s an honor to be counted among you.

With clarity of vision, purity of heart, we must go forth boldly; we must speak the truth whatever it may be; we will call, we will write, we will vote, we will organize, we will march, and not only will we never quit, never even will we take one step back.

Make the calls. Make your family, friends, and neighbors make the calls. The fight is right here, right now.

A long time ago, before the actual Libby trial when we were wishing for crumbs from Patrick Fitzgerald and getting nont, Christy wrote a few amazing posts about the rule of law, the reason he was no Ken Starr and what that meant for all of us. Those post changed my thinking about a number of things and were part of my reason for turning off my TV. Time went on and we had the Supreme Court nominations, with a very intense day of calling re: the cloture vote for Samuel Alito and some fascinating posts and discussion about the process as well as both him and Roberts as nominees. During those I learned to watch CSpan and watched both hearings.

And now, here we are again, with Christy reminding us again about the importance of habeas. There was a time when I could have watched this in wide-eyed wonder, thinking “Look, my government at work” and thinking little more about it. I knew it was there and it reassured me. Now that I am so much better informed and try to use discernment in my sources of that information, I understand that a large percentage of what I believed for 50 years just isn’t true. I understand that there is a deeper meaning and a complex dance in every interaction and it is my responsibility to at least know that and incorporate it in my learning viewing. This has ensured that watching congress is a deeply emotional process.

Thank you Christy!
I appreciate the hat tip regarding CSPAN3– I have it on right now.

I want to recommend that everyone who missed it watch yesterday’s Democracy Now! — You can watch a replay online. Most of the show was devoted to The Shock Doctrine: Naomi Klein on the Rise of Disaster Capitalism . Klein shows how all the seemingly random acts of evil performed by this administration are part of a coherent overall plan to subvert our Democracy and our Constitution. This is a subversive conspiracy of the highest order that she has revealed.

A long time ago, before the actual Libby trial when we were wishing for crumbs from Patrick Fitzgerald and getting nont, Christy wrote a few amazing posts about the rule of law, the reason he was no Ken Starr and what that meant for all of us. Those post changed my thinking about a number of things and were part of my reason for turning off my TV. Time went on and we had the Supreme Court nominations, with a very intense day of calling re: the cloture vote for Samuel Alito and some fascinating posts and discussion about the process as well as both him and Roberts as nominees. During those I learned to watch CSpan and watched both hearings.

And now, here we are again, with Christy reminding us again about the importance of habeas. There was a time when I could have watched this in wide-eyed wonder, thinking “Look, my government at work” and thinking little more about it. I knew it was there and it reassured me. Now that I am so much better informed and try to use discernment in my sources of that information, I understand that a large percentage of what I believed for 50 years just isn’t true. I understand that there is a deeper meaning and a complex dance in every interaction and it is my responsibility to at least know that and incorporate it in my learning viewing. This has ensured that watching congress is a deeply emotional process.

Republicans Block Voting Machine Testing in Ohio
by markthshark
Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 05:33:09 AM PDT
This is not good for Democrats in Ohio. Voters there need to rally and organize to countermand this grievous public injustice. All votes must be counted and all votes must count.

That said, if Ohio Republicans have anything to do with it; the state will reprise its ignominious stage role as the “New Florida” in the much-awaited 2008 neocon sequel, “Rigged Election Part Two.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m a movie aficionado, and to me, sequels are greatly overrated.

It seems that the legend of J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio’s former secretary of state and graduate of the Karl Rove School of Dirty Politics, lives on, bequeathed to other remaining Republicans in the state. In fact, they’ve decided to block proposed tests to the state’s electronic voting machines prior to the 2008 presidential primary.

FISA is not and was never meant to cover either purely domestic or purely foreign intelligence surveillance. For the foreign cases, there has never been any restriction on the US surveilling foreign to foreign communications. For domestic cases, you establish probable cause before a judge and get a warrant.

FISA before it was gutted covered communications where one end was domestic and the other foreign. You needed a probable cause but the bar on this was set very low and almost no FISA requested warrants have ever been denied by the FISA court.

There have been several rationales put forward for gutting FISA: that it was cumbersome, that it prohibited foreign-foreign communications routed through the US, etc.

If you have been listening to the hearings, you will have heard the term reverse targeting. If the government says it is targeting a non-citizen individual outside the US, then it can without going to FISA listen in on conversations where one end originates in the US. It is a way of doing an end run around FISA.

You may also have heard the term minimization. Supposedly irrelevant or inconsequential communications originating in the US or involving US citizens would be discarded. But the people who are doing the tapping are the ones who are making the determinations on who is really being targeted and which conversations should be “minimized” i.e. eliminated. And we have only their word that this is being done. In other words, they are saying Trust us which if experience has taught us anything about this Administration is not a good idea.

Christy, you are an inspiration to me. All of the Headliners here at the Lake work extremely hard to further the truth.
Why else would we be watching hearings, making phone calls, following the thread and making (sometimes) bad jokes and doing so all at the same time?
Devoted folks at a Great Community with Terrific Leaders!

I have been reading Waxman’s letter to Krongard. It is amazing, this guy has done about every FU’ed thing one could come up with. I just got to the part were he tipped off Kenneth Tomlinson:

According to current and former officials in your office, you improperly tipped off Kenneth Tomlinson, the head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which operates Voice of America and all other government-sponsored international broadcasting, about an ongoing investigation into allegations of misconduct by Mr. Tomlinson

How has this turkey been allowed to operate for so long in this office? Where the hell has the been Sec of State in all of this?

Doesn’t FISA provide for acquiring a justified warrant after the fact?

yes it does and there have been only a handful of warrants ever refused

it’s a rediculous claim

The real issues are oversight, accountability and transparency. The Boosh admin wants NO ONE to know what they are doing. Therefore even though FISA meets every criteria of speed and secrecy, they still want to gut it because they want nothing on record anywhere outside of their direct control.

And Christy, what I like about this blog is the way it helps me connect the dots, and see how things are related. Many, many thanks from this corner of the country.

tho not up on all things lawyerly i must say being on the lake is very enlightening… it most certainly has spurred me on to become much more involved in good government so i add my respect and thanks for jane, christy, pach, trex, lhp, pw and i know i’m missing a few but big ups y’all ;o)) – oh and 1 more thing…jane was attacked on billo’s screedcast last night – tells me the lake is doing a bang-up job!!!

WASHINGTON – A congressional committee has launched an investigation into the State Department’s inspector general, alleging that he blocked fraud investigations, including potential security lapses at the newly built U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

Also under scrutiny is whether Blackwater USA, the private security firm banned this week from working in Iraq for the alleged killing of eight Iraqi civilians, was “illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq,” according to a letter to IG Howard J. Krongard that was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

For those who under-estimate BushCo’s capacity for criminality and scoff at the evidence that this criminality is far worse than conventional wisdom allows, take off the tin-foil hat, get off the black helicopters on the grassy knoll and open yer eyes!

Christy, you are an inspiration to me. All of the Headliners here at the Lake work extremely hard to further the truth.
Why else would we be watching hearings, making phone calls, following the thread and making (sometimes) bad jokes and doing so all at the same time?
Devoted folks at a Great Community with Terrific Leaders!

Demi – before I started lurking here and reading during the Libby trial, I never, ever wrote, called, emailed or contacted my Rep. or Senators. I just did not feel that my voice was important enough for them to listen to. Being here has changed my political life – and frankly, the lives of my kids (who I email stuff to) and my husband, who I IM stuff to at work. We are all a lot more “with it” in terms of what is going on and how important it is now than we ever were before. I go to local events and grab the sleeves of the local guys for the Reps for my area and I call and write and scream and yell and generally make an annoyance of myself. Being called a “citizen firepup” is a point of great pride with me.

I’ve got several meetings throughout the day today, but I just had some time to call Bayh’s office and tell him to support the amendment, his staff never chit chats, they just take your name and address.

Our most powerful weapon is the knowledge and clarity of vision we’ve gained from Christy, Jane and the Lake. This has brought us out from the ignorance of our previous ‘low information’ state and into a clearer understanding of the political landscape, it’s players and their Agenda items.

By taking this knowledge and spreading it amongst the slumbering people we already know, we are doing the right and most powerful thing we can to wake America up to the Kabuki hiding the Treachery of BushCo.

Knowledge is Power if it is used to enlighten those suffering without its benefit! ‘Our’ Country is steadily being destroyed from within by ConMen willing to lie, obfuscate and distract US with straw-man drama after straw-man drama.

Our challenge is to ring the Liberty Bell of Clear Seeing for our slumbering brothers and sisters to wake-up by.

Our most powerful weapon is the knowledge and clarity of vision we’ve gained from Christy, Jane and the Lake. This has brought us out from the ignorance of our previous ‘low information’ state and into a clearer understanding of the political landscape, it’s players and their Agenda items.

By taking this knowledge and spreading it amongst the slumbering people we already know, we are doing the right and most powerful thing we can to wake America up to the Kabuki hiding the Treachery of BushCo.

Knowledge is Power if it is used to enlighten those suffering without its benefit! ‘Our’ Country is steadily being destroyed from within by ConMen willing to lie, obfuscate and distract US with straw-man drama after straw-man drama.

Our challenge is to ring the Liberty Bell of Clear Seeing for our slumbering brothers and sisters to wake-up by.

The students are furious about the Kerry thing. The video has been playing all day. CNN will be having the student who was tasered on later today. Every time I see that video, I am appalled, and apparently, so is everyone else. I’m glad it’s getting airtime, so people can see the police state that is emerging. Give these goons an inch, and they take it a mile…just like Abu Gharib – same sort of power trip. It is just getting out of control.

Our most powerful weapon is the knowledge and clarity of vision we’ve gained from Christy, Jane and the Lake. This has brought us out from the ignorance of our previous ‘low information’ state and into a clearer understanding of the political landscape, it’s players and their Agenda items.

By taking this knowledge and spreading it amongst the slumbering people we already know, we are doing the right and most powerful thing we can to wake America up to the Kabuki hiding the Treachery of BushCo.

Knowledge is Power if it is used to enlighten those suffering without its benefit! ‘Our’ Country is steadily being destroyed from within by ConMen willing to lie, obfuscate and distract US with straw-man drama after straw-man drama.

Our challenge is to ring the Liberty Bell of Clear Seeing for our slumbering brothers and sisters to wake-up by.

I have been reading Waxman’s letter to Krongard. It is amazing, this guy has done about every FU’ed thing one could come up with. I just got to the part were he tipped off Kenneth Tomlinson:

According to current and former officials in your office, you improperly tipped off Kenneth Tomlinson, the head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which operates Voice of America and all other government-sponsored international broadcasting, about an ongoing investigation into allegations of misconduct by Mr. Tomlinson

How has this turkey been allowed to operate for so long in this office? Where the hell has the been Sec of State in all of this?

John David Roy Atchison — who prosecutes civil and criminal matters as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern Florida District — appeared on the other side of the law Monday in Detroit federal court. Atchison, 53, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., was charged with enticement of a minor using the Internet and knowingly traveling interstate to engage in illicit sex.

According to court documents, during an Internet chat with an undercover officer, Atchison described himself as “very much a family man.” He initiated the online chat Aug. 29 with the officer posing as a mother interested in letting men have sex with her children.

I don’t trust her or congress in regulating or reforming the insurance industry. Just like NAFTA under Bill Clinton, congress stripped away all the safeguards. And how the heck will unemployed people or recent college graduates who’ve been automatically kicked-off their parents health insurance and looking for jobs be able to pay for health insurance? This is just a giant giveaway to the insurance industry…again.

“…a refundable tax credit limiting the cost of insurance to a certain percentage of family income. The plan doesn’t yet define what that percentage of income is, but it’ll presumably be reasonable.”
And who gets to decide what ‘reasonable’ is? As long as there are lobbyists on the hill, “reasonable” will be defined by the insurance industry.

State Dept. Watchdog: My ‘Foremost Mission Is To Support Bush Administration’
The Inspector General Act of 1978 states Inspectors General (IG) must be “independent and objective” in their analysis. The State Department IG, led by Howard Krongard, has a core mission of “promot[ing] integrity” and “prevent[ing] and detect waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement” within the Department.

But today, House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote to Krongard under allegations from seven employees that he “has repeatedly interfered with on-going investigations to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment.”

Waxman wrote that one “consistent allegation” is that Krongard believes his “foremost mission is to support the Bush Administration, especially with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan,” rather than “act as an independent and objective check.” Waxman also noted complaints of Krongard’s “partisan political ties.”

Among the allegations:

– Refused to send “any investigators” into Iraq and Afghanistan to “pursue investigations into wasteful spending or procurement fraud.”

– Stalled investigators from cooperating with a “Justice Department investigation into waste, fraud, and abuse relating to the new U.S. Embassy in Iraq.”

– Used “irregular” and incomplete investigative procedures to help exonerate a prime contractor of the U.S. embassy in Iraq of charges of labor trafficking.

– Impeded investigators’ efforts to cooperate with a Justice probe into allegations that a “large private security contractor was smuggling weapons into Iraq.”

– Interfered with an on-going investigation “into the conduct of Kenneth Tomlinson, the head of Voice of America and a close associate of Karl Rove.”

– Censored portions of inspection reports on embassies so that information on security vulnerabilities was “not disclosed to Congress.”

The report adds that under Krongard, the IG office has seen an “exodus of trained staff” as “people come to work every day fearful” of his “daily antagonism.”

The allegations against Krongard reflect a disturbing trend in the IG offices under the Bush administration. Currently, at least four IGs are under investigation into allegations of “fraud, wasteful spending and abuse of power” — the very flaws they are supposed to be preventing.

I don’t trust her or congress in regulating or reforming the insurance industry. Just like NAFTA under Bill Clinton, congress stripped away all the safeguards. And how the heck will unemployed people or recent college graduates who’ve been automatically kicked-off their parents health insurance and looking for jobs be able to pay for health insurance? This is just a giant giveaway to the insurance industry…again.

“…a refundable tax credit limiting the cost of insurance to a certain percentage of family income. The plan doesn’t yet define what that percentage of income is, but it’ll presumably be reasonable.”
And who gets to decide what ‘reasonable’ is? As long as there are lobbyists on the hill, “reasonable” will be defined by the insurance industry.

Oh, indeed. I’m interested in all analyses of all the health care plans being proposed. Looking around for others. I like Kucinich, but he’s got a snowball’s chance in hell. So Edwards and Clinton’s plans are of more practical interest to me…

Regarding the FISA hearing. It seems to me that they are honing in on something…about illegal activities “prior” to February. McConnell is making sure they understand that “it” didn’t happen under his “watch”, but they are alluding to something for sure.

Regarding the FISA hearing. It seems to me that they are honing in on something…about illegal activities “prior” to February. McConnell is making sure they understand that “it” didn’t happen under his “watch”, but they are alluding to something for sure.

John David Roy Atchison — who prosecutes civil and criminal matters as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern Florida District — appeared on the other side of the law Monday in Detroit federal court. Atchison, 53, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., was charged with enticement of a minor using the Internet and knowingly traveling interstate to engage in illicit sex.

According to court documents, during an Internet chat with an undercover officer, Atchison described himself as “very much a family man.” He initiated the online chat Aug. 29 with the officer posing as a mother interested in letting men have sex with her children.

It’s not clear what the method is behind the madness. Wilkes’ lawyers didn’t respond to the AP’s calls and the lawmakers say the subpoena comes out of left field. They also say that they’ve been advised by the counsel that it would be against House rules for them to comply.

It’s a pretty impressive roster Wilkes’ is after (9 GOPers, 4 Dems), including House Appropriations defense subcommittee chairman John Murtha (D-PA) and former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA). Some, like Lewis, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), had been reported to be involved with Wilkes. Most of the others have not.

So it’s anybody’s guess as to what Wilkes’ lawyers got cooking. Wilkes came out last year to offer the defense that he didn’t bribe lawmakers — it was the other way around: they shook him down.”

Coincidentally we had a live presentation by an M.D. advocating single-payer health care this morning at 6:30 a.m. (local Kiwanis meeting).

It was amazingly well-received in this small-town in a Red state.

As opposed to Hillary’s plan to legally force you to buy insurance. What’s next, legally forcing us all to take restless leg syndrome medicine? Leave it to Hillary to come up with a plan that’s actually WORSE than the status quo.

It’s not clear what the method is behind the madness. Wilkes’ lawyers didn’t respond to the AP’s calls and the lawmakers say the subpoena comes out of left field. They also say that they’ve been advised by the counsel that it would be against House rules for them to comply.

It’s a pretty impressive roster Wilkes’ is after (9 GOPers, 4 Dems), including House Appropriations defense subcommittee chairman John Murtha (D-PA) and former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA). Some, like Lewis, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), had been reported to be involved with Wilkes. Most of the others have not.

So it’s anybody’s guess as to what Wilkes’ lawyers got cooking. Wilkes came out last year to offer the defense that he didn’t bribe lawmakers — it was the other way around: they shook him down.”

It’s not clear what the method is behind the madness. Wilkes’ lawyers didn’t respond to the AP’s calls and the lawmakers say the subpoena comes out of left field. They also say that they’ve been advised by the counsel that it would be against House rules for them to comply.

It’s a pretty impressive roster Wilkes’ is after (9 GOPers, 4 Dems), including House Appropriations defense subcommittee chairman John Murtha (D-PA) and former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA). Some, like Lewis, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), had been reported to be involved with Wilkes. Most of the others have not.

So it’s anybody’s guess as to what Wilkes’ lawyers got cooking. Wilkes came out last year to offer the defense that he didn’t bribe lawmakers — it was the other way around: they shook him down.”

“The President has been allowed to spy on Americans without a warrant, and our U.S. Senate is letting it continue… You know something is wrong when the New England Patriots face stiffer penalties for spying on innocent Americans than Dick Cheney and George Bush.”

The tasing of the the FL student is one more case of excessive use of force in what is a fact, that we live in a violent society and believe that violent solutions are the answer to all problems.

The NYC police have used aggressive violence on demonstrators again and again, shoot first and ask later when they see a black face and shot a 300 pound black woman with a shot gun in her apartment because she was afraid of them and grabbed a kitchen knife in an attempt to save herself. She was killed, As were, Michael Stewart, Amadou Diallo, Anthony Baez, Partick Dorismond and so many, many others. Cops murder blacks in NYC on a yearly basis.

Blacks are routinely stopped and interrogated for simply driving while black. A black attorney and his wife were recently attacked and arrested by police when they tried to intercede and prevent a police brutality incident in Brooklyn.

We live in fear of police. If you assert your rights you are arrested for resisting arrest.

This is a very bad situation and getting worse.

And the cops, like the military get away with criminal behavior 99.9% of the time.

I don’t know which one said it but one Representative skewered McConnell nicely. He said that 200 hours for a FISA request seemed like a resources issue and that the Congress would give McConnell all the resources he needed in such a case. The sputtering and backpedaling by McConnell on that was a wonder to behold.

Another pointed out that much of these 200 hours represented work, such as reports, etc. that would have to be done anyway. It would be interesting to hear from any lawyers how many man hours they think it would take to submit a FISA warrant request and how this compared with other similar kinds of requests: given FISA’s low thresholds and requests being submitted by lawyers familiar with the process.

Just called Senator Saxby Chambliss’ (R ubberStamp, GA) to ask if he intends to support the Restore Habeas Corpus Act. Sweet young thing who answered phone said (read) that “he’s still thinking about it.”

I said, “He has to think about whether the government can spy on US citizens? He has to think about whether he’s going to support the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights?”

The SYT had a prepared come-back–”Well, ma’am sometimes there are more things in a bill than…”

I asked her to please note that this constituent wanted the Senator to support the bill.

I don’t know which one said it but one Representative skewered McConnell nicely. He said that 200 hours for a FISA request seemed like a resources issue and that the Congress would give McConnell all the resources he needed in such a case. The sputtering and backpedaling by McConnell on that was a wonder to behold.

Another pointed out that much of these 200 hours represented work, such as reports, etc. that would have to be done anyway. It would be interesting to hear from any lawyers how many man hours they think it would take to submit a FISA warrant request and how this compared with other similar kinds of requests: given FISA’s low thresholds and requests being submitted by lawyers familiar with the process.

What a pack of liars they’ve been. It’ll ADD 200 hours, well not exactly.

Coincidentally we had a live presentation by an M.D. advocating single-payer health care this morning at 6:30 a.m. (local Kiwanis meeting).

It was amazingly well-received in this small-town in a Red state.

As opposed to Hillary’s plan to legally force you to buy insurance. What’s next, legally forcing us all to take restless leg syndrome medicine? Leave it to Hillary to come up with a plan that’s actually WORSE than the status quo.

If you don’t buy your health insurance, you are breaking the law. When you break the law, you are arrested. When you go to prison for not paying for your health insurance, you will get socialized medical care in prison (single payer). Why not just go with the single payer and not make citizens into criminals?

I don’t know which one said it but one Representative skewered McConnell nicely. He said that 200 hours for a FISA request seemed like a resources issue and that the Congress would give McConnell all the resources he needed in such a case. The sputtering and backpedaling by McConnell on that was a wonder to behold.

Another pointed out that much of these 200 hours represented work, such as reports, etc. that would have to be done anyway. It would be interesting to hear from any lawyers how many man hours they think it would take to submit a FISA warrant request and how this compared with other similar kinds of requests: given FISA’s low thresholds and requests being submitted by lawyers familiar with the process.

My bold. Refers to computers that can cut and paste out of boilerplate applications.

Coincidentally we had a live presentation by an M.D. advocating single-payer health care this morning at 6:30 a.m. (local Kiwanis meeting).

It was amazingly well-received in this small-town in a Red state.

As opposed to Hillary’s plan to legally force you to buy insurance. What’s next, legally forcing us all to take restless leg syndrome medicine? Leave it to Hillary to come up with a plan that’s actually WORSE than the status quo.

If you don’t buy your health insurance, you are breaking the law. When you break the law, you are arrested. When you go to prison for not paying for your health insurance, you will get socialized medical care in prison (single payer). Why not just go with the single payer and not make citizens into criminals?

Blogs like the Lake and others better start backing one of the other horses that has a chance: Edwards or Obama quickly or HRC will be back in the WH. Her healthplan is specifically designed to win over the conservatives. She thinks she has the nomination in hand.

The only reason Hillary is a Dem is because she supports the feminist movement and does not want to be classified a Republican Stepford Wife. HRC=More of the Same.

And supporting the feminist movement and not wanting to be classified a Stepford Wife is a good thing, I might add.

You know, strictly as a woman, I really really wanted to be able to support her bid to be the first female president. It didn’t take me very long to realize that there was no way, idealogically, that I could. That realization adjusted my gender bias, and for me personally, that was a lesson I needed.

I don’t know which one said it but one Representative skewered McConnell nicely. He said that 200 hours for a FISA request seemed like a resources issue and that the Congress would give McConnell all the resources he needed in such a case. The sputtering and backpedaling by McConnell on that was a wonder to behold.

Another pointed out that much of these 200 hours represented work, such as reports, etc. that would have to be done anyway. It would be interesting to hear from any lawyers how many man hours they think it would take to submit a FISA warrant request and how this compared with other similar kinds of requests: given FISA’s low thresholds and requests being submitted by lawyers familiar with the process.

One of these was Bill Delahunt from MA who has the Southie accent (as opposed to the Kennedy HAHvahd accent). He can sound sort of simple, but he’s not.

Coincidentally we had a live presentation by an M.D. advocating single-payer health care this morning at 6:30 a.m. (local Kiwanis meeting).

It was amazingly well-received in this small-town in a Red state.

As opposed to Hillary’s plan to legally force you to buy insurance. What’s next, legally forcing us all to take restless leg syndrome medicine? Leave it to Hillary to come up with a plan that’s actually WORSE than the status quo.

If you don’t buy your health insurance, you are breaking the law. When you break the law, you are arrested. When you go to prison for not paying for your health insurance, you will get socialized medical care in prison (single payer). Why not just go with the single payer and not make citizens into criminals?

Screw her BS. If you don’t have the money to buy health insurance, you don’t have the money, period. Our tax money should pay for it, instead of their tax cuts and war money. It should just be that if you are sick, you can go to the doctor. If you need treatment, you get treatment. If you need prescriptions, you get what medicine you need. If you need a check-up, you get a check-up. What good do “tax” breaks help, if you get sick first. Let the doctors collect from the “tax slush fund” that they throw away everyday to steal everyone’s resources overseas; and reinstate the taxes on the rich.
Boneheads.

And supporting the feminist movement and not wanting to be classified a Stepford Wife is a good thing, I might add.

You know, strictly as a woman, I really really wanted to be able to support her bid to be the first female president. It didn’t take me very long to realize that there was no way, idealogically, that I could. That realization adjusted my gender bias, and for me personally, that was a lesson I needed.

You know, strictly as a woman, I really really wanted to be able to support her bid to be the first female president. It didn’t take me very long to realize that there was no way, idealogically, that I could.

she can fix the medicare part D plan first… let’s see if she does a good job with that or continues the corporate welfare, then we’ll know if we trust her with a national health plan for everyone.

p.s. this applies to edwards, obama, and everyone else too.

i agree with previous commenters that after the corporate sell outs of the ’90s (see nafta, see welfare, see telecomunications, see bank deregulation) i have NO reason to trust any of the corportists – D or R.

If you don’t buy your health insurance, you are breaking the law. When you break the law, you are arrested. When you go to prison for not paying for your health insurance, you will get socialized medical care in prison (single payer). Why not just go with the single payer and not make citizens into criminals?

Screw her BS. If you don’t have the money to buy health insurance, you don’t have the money, period. Our tax money should pay for it, instead of their tax cuts and war money. It should just be that if you are sick, you can go to the doctor. If you need treatment, you get treatment. If you need prescriptions, you get what medicine you need. If you need a check-up, you get a check-up. What good do “tax” breaks help, if you get sick first. Let the doctors collect from the “tax slush fund” that they throw away everyday to steal everyone’s resources overseas; and reinstate the taxes on the rich.
Boneheads.

LS sed: Let the doctors collect from the “tax slush fund” that they throw away everyday to steal everyone’s resources overseas; and reinstate the taxes on the rich.

And supporting the feminist movement and not wanting to be classified a Stepford Wife is a good thing, I might add.

You know, strictly as a woman, I really really wanted to be able to support her bid to be the first female president. It didn’t take me very long to realize that there was no way, idealogically, that I could. That realization adjusted my gender bias, and for me personally, that was a lesson I needed.

Lesson: Not every woman is a good woman.

Is there anyone you’d think about for vice president? I see people suggesting tickets which include only the current media sweethearts. How about Sheila Jackson Lee or Debbie Wasserman Schultz? I could get behind either of those.

Blogs like the Lake and others better start backing one of the other horses that has a chance: Edwards or Obama quickly or HRC will be back in the WH. Her healthplan is specifically designed to win over the conservatives. She thinks she has the nomination in hand.

Thing one: Blogs like this don’t speak with one voice, but it has been nearly universal in its condemnation of HRC.

Thing two: Why is Kucinich not someone with a chance? Just because most of us agree with him on more issues than any other candidate? It’s the ears thing, isn’t it?

Kucinich is the best, but if he stands no chance, then Edwards or Obama or Richardson are better than Hillary. It would be good to cut her loose as soon as possible. She’s been given the benefit of the doubt time and time again on the warmongering. She’s shown her true colors on the health insurance plan.

I have said many times that the Dems would be committing suicide if Hillary gets the nomination. The Repugs can’t wait to see her get it. And yes, the Repugs are afraid of John Edwards…No doubt of that.

Blogs like the Lake and others better start backing one of the other horses that has a chance: Edwards or Obama quickly or HRC will be back in the WH. Her healthplan is specifically designed to win over the conservatives. She thinks she has the nomination in hand.

Thing one: Blogs like this don’t speak with one voice, but it has been nearly universal in its condemnation of HRC.

Thing two: Why is Kucinich not someone with a chance? Just because most of us agree with him on more issues than any other candidate? It’s the ears thing, isn’t it?

It’s the fact that no one outside of a few blogs even recognize Kucinich. I’ve always liked him from the first I spotted him years back, but he’s a snowball in the middle of Hell…

Screw her BS. If you don’t have the money to buy health insurance, you don’t have the money, period. Our tax money should pay for it, instead of their tax cuts and war money. It should just be that if you are sick, you can go to the doctor. If you need treatment, you get treatment. If you need prescriptions, you get what medicine you need. If you need a check-up, you get a check-up. What good do “tax” breaks help, if you get sick first. Let the doctors collect from the “tax slush fund” that they throw away everyday to steal everyone’s resources overseas; and reinstate the taxes on the rich.
Boneheads.

LS sed: Let the doctors collect from the “tax slush fund” that they throw away everyday to steal everyone’s resources overseas; and reinstate the taxes on the rich.

I have said many times that the Dems would be committing suicide if Hillary gets the nomination. The Repugs can’t wait to see her get it. And yes, the Repugs are afraid of John Edwards…No doubt of that.

I agree. I don’t think the polls capture the venom many feel towards Hillary.

Blogs like the Lake and others better start backing one of the other horses that has a chance: Edwards or Obama quickly or HRC will be back in the WH. Her healthplan is specifically designed to win over the conservatives. She thinks she has the nomination in hand.

Thing one: Blogs like this don’t speak with one voice, but it has been nearly universal in its condemnation of HRC.

Thing two: Why is Kucinich not someone with a chance? Just because most of us agree with him on more issues than any other candidate? It’s the ears thing, isn’t it?

Frankly, I have never even noticed his ears. I’ll have to look next time. I like him and his plans but he, for whatever reason, comes across in a strange way to people. I would be delighted for him to have a cabinet position. I am supporting Edwards but I will swallow really hard and vote for Hillary – if need be. I could be happy with Obama although I think he needs a little more seasoning but I guess no one gets to “practice” being prez.

Blogs like the Lake and others better start backing one of the other horses that has a chance: Edwards or Obama quickly or HRC will be back in the WH. Her healthplan is specifically designed to win over the conservatives. She thinks she has the nomination in hand.

Thing one: Blogs like this don’t speak with one voice, but it has been nearly universal in its condemnation of HRC.

Thing two: Why is Kucinich not someone with a chance? Just because most of us agree with him on more issues than any other candidate? It’s the ears thing, isn’t it?

Big Mitch,

Thing One: I agree, and that’s why I am a progressive. But before we rest on our principals, there is an election to be won. Thing Two: Kucinich would be great, but he is trailing both nationally and in Iowa/NH. Obama and Edwards are neck and neck with HRC in those states. I would like to see the Lake/Kos and other influential Blogs back either Obama (my choice) or Edwards to win the nomination before HRC sleeps another night alone in the WH.

Long before HRC was the candidate, she was being annointed a front runner by Tweety Matthews and Rush Limbaugh. They couldn’t contain their glee at the prospect of running against her. That should tell us something.

I don’t know which one said it but one Representative skewered McConnell nicely. He said that 200 hours for a FISA request seemed like a resources issue and that the Congress would give McConnell all the resources he needed in such a case. The sputtering and backpedaling by McConnell on that was a wonder to behold.

Another pointed out that much of these 200 hours represented work, such as reports, etc. that would have to be done anyway. It would be interesting to hear from any lawyers how many man hours they think it would take to submit a FISA warrant request and how this compared with other similar kinds of requests: given FISA’s low thresholds and requests being submitted by lawyers familiar with the process.

Depnding on whether you are relying on a single witness or facts from a variety of sources,

Whether those witnesses ro documents are immdiately availbale to you or off in some agent’s car some where,

And depnding on how well the attorney writing the warrant application already knows the facts, you can write a warrant application and get the affidavits all signed and stuff in about 48 hours if you don’t sleep for a couple days.

The real problem is getting all the internal sign offs within the FBI and DOJ BEFORE it can go to the FISA judge.

While the line AUSA may stay up all night working, the bosses are not always so availbale to review and sign off on things.

Mr. Henry’s letters are always things of beauty but this one just seems to be ’specially nice. Lots of good ammuniation therein.

Mark 16 October on the calendar for some good fun. :-)

selise -

Thanks for the heads up on Scahill on DemNow. Know I’m prejudiced but it did appear he ran the idiot from the “professional” organization with “peace” in its name off the track. Am glad to have the bit about these people hating to be called “mercenaries” confirmed…….will insure that I never refer to them by any other name.

peanutbutter @ 86
Oh, indeed. I’m interested in all analyses of all the health care plans being proposed. Looking around for others. I like Kucinich, but he’s got a snowball’s chance in hell. So Edwards and Clinton’s plans are of more practical interest to me…

I’m very concerned as well. As a baby boomer who relies on my spouse’s employer health insurance and at retirement (god forbid), my spouse is fully covered but me and family members will be forced to pay astronomical premiums until Medicare kicks in. I wonder if Hillary’s plan addresses employer and employee current contributions. Under Hillary’s plan, will the employer and employee contributions be less? Will the employer contribute? What will be the cost benefit-ratio? Current paycheck gross vs. net ie.,take home pay are a big difference due to premiums paid by employer and employee. Will employees see that extra cash due to lower premiums? I doubt it. It seems that “we the people” under Hillary will be responsible for our insurance and not the employer. Again, relieving employers of providing benefits to the employee and putting the onus on the individual. As Hillary said “you have to show proof to your employer that you’re insured as a part of the job interview “

By the way, Biden has the resume, and a plan on Iraq. Dodd is right on most issues. We have a great slate of candidates besides HRC.

Agreed, BigMitch. And this outstanding slate of Dem candidates could not have come in a better election cycle. We need them all, save HRC, regardless who wins the primary and eventually (and obviously) the general.

Screw her BS. If you don’t have the money to buy health insurance, you don’t have the money, period. Our tax money should pay for it, instead of their tax cuts and war money. It should just be that if you are sick, you can go to the doctor. If you need treatment, you get treatment. If you need prescriptions, you get what medicine you need. If you need a check-up, you get a check-up. What good do “tax” breaks help, if you get sick first. Let the doctors collect from the “tax slush fund” that they throw away everyday to steal everyone’s resources overseas; and reinstate the taxes on the rich.
Boneheads.

I wrote a bit of a rant about this plan yesterday, but didn’t get into the futility of the tax breaks. Usually, that’s going to be a small portion of what’s owed. Even assuming that you are able to take 100% of those expenses off your taxes, that’s not going to be more than a third of your income. When you make $30K a year and owe $300K, that’s no help at all.

she can fix the medicare part D plan first… let’s see if she does a good job with that or continues the corporate welfare, then we’ll know if we trust her with a national health plan for everyone.

p.s. this applies to edwards, obama, and everyone else too.

i agree with previous commenters that after the corporate sell outs of the ’90s (see nafta, see welfare, see telecomunications, see bank deregulation) i have NO reason to trust any of the corportists – D or R.

selise, I wanted to thank you for your comment last thread about the MA health plan and your experience with it. My son has not signed on yet (part time @ Tedeschi’s convenience store, he’ll be subsidized) and it was really helpful to hear that you are doing better on it than not.

It’s also important to mention again what Selise said earlier, that nobody in MA has been fined, even thought he first deadline was July 1, and there will not be people in jail over not finding insurance. the people who can, I think, get in real trouble are businesses that don’t make a good faith effort to participate in ensuring their employees have insurance.

I am insured through my employer but have been in many places on the spectrum including MAHealth (Medicaid). My firstborn and my former husband are both uninsured and outside MA and I really worry about it. My son is employed now, so may be able to access, but my ex is a puppeteer/artist who broke a shoulder or arm last year and had a pretty tough time of it.

Obama has had his balls out for sometime now but the Blogs don’t like him, and I have no idea why. He is a superstar–the only chance to change things and end up on monuments

When he said Joe-Lie was his mentor in the Senate, and then when he backed Joe-Lie after the CT Dem primary, he lost his support in the netroots community.

Al Gore, the darling of this Blog, included him on his presidential ticket….yes, us bloggers have learned more about Joe Lieberman the last couple of years, but let’s not hold it against Obama. Obama has extended his hand across the isle to die-in-the-wool Repubs his whole political career, while maintaining his stature as a true progressive.

Screw her BS. If you don’t have the money to buy health insurance, you don’t have the money, period. Our tax money should pay for it, instead of their tax cuts and war money. It should just be that if you are sick, you can go to the doctor. If you need treatment, you get treatment. If you need prescriptions, you get what medicine you need. If you need a check-up, you get a check-up. What good do “tax” breaks help, if you get sick first. Let the doctors collect from the “tax slush fund” that they throw away everyday to steal everyone’s resources overseas; and reinstate the taxes on the rich.
Boneheads.

I wrote a bit of a rant about this plan yesterday, but didn’t get into the futility of the tax breaks. Usually, that’s going to be a small portion of what’s owed. Even assuming that you are able to take 100% of those expenses off your taxes, that’s not going to be more than a third of your income. When you make $30K a year and owe $300K, that’s no help at all.

Long before HRC was the candidate, she was being annointed a front runner by Tweety Matthews and Rush Limbaugh. They couldn’t contain their glee at the prospect of running against her. That should tell us something.

No question. She is perfect for them on so many different levels: She represents their views abundantly more than either Obama and Edwards; she is on Business Week touting her corporate side, and is in the New Republic touting her war hawk side. And the real kicker: the repubs have all the dirt they need on her in the general election. It’s a win-win for them. They will dump on her in the general, and even if she comes out on top, she is still the one they would want in the WH the most.

I have said many times that the Dems would be committing suicide if Hillary gets the nomination. The Repugs can’t wait to see her get it. And yes, the Repugs are afraid of John Edwards…No doubt of that.

I agree. Did you happen to catch the slam that Edwards gave Clinton for pandering to the corporate interests?

I was disappointed in the coverage of the Harkin Steak Fry by the MSM. Edwards is leading in Iowa. No one mentioned that in their coverage. There were more Edwards supporters with more enthusiasm than any of the other candidates. Obama was a close second. HRC had the most pre-printed yard signs, that’s about it.

Hillary is smart. She is a politician who knows where her bread is buttered – corporations.

If she is really clever and truly a stealth progressive (doubt it) she’ll pull a bait and switch (a bit) on these creeps when she has more power (unlikely).

She is a good fighter, but she appears to be corrupted by the machine. She is getting support because regardless of her beliefs she shows some balls which the boys don’t.

If we keep getting corporatists… we won’t be restoring the constitution any time soon.

Obama has had his balls out for sometime now but the Blogs don’t like him, and I have no idea why. He is a superstar–the only chance to change things and end up on monuments.

I can’t tell you why the Blogs don’t like him, but I can tell you why he doesn’t have my ear.
His style turns me off. I don’t listen to people who Preach. And, some other stuff, like his lack of experience.
Do you really think he’s the Only Chance for change?
Think again.

The two things with Obama are that he has not tried to engage with us in the blogosphere and he has not taken a leadership role on issues important to us. For instance, he is against the Iraq War but he has made no attempt to lead the fight against it.

The two things with Obama are that he has not tried to engage with us in the blogosphere and he has not taken a leadership role on issues important to us. For instance, he is against the Iraq War but he has made no attempt to lead the fight against it.

I wan to tbelieve in Obama, but the Don King and Tony Rezko stuff just makes me pause. I do not want to have to deal with anoter Democratic presidency crippled by petty corruption. No more Slick Willie stuff.

The LA Times ran their story on Hillary’s plan today with a headline that said she was introducing a healthcare plan. I wrote them – e-mail – and said that it was a health insurance coverage plan and it was asking the wrong question, and that I want the candidates to ask the correct question, ‘how do we provide affordable health care to everyone’ (not ‘how do we provide affordable health care coverage for everyone’).

Thanks for the heads up on Scahill on DemNow. Know I’m prejudiced but it did appear he ran the idiot from the “professional” organization with “peace” in its name off the track. Am glad to have the bit about these people hating to be called “mercenaries” confirmed…….will insure that I never refer to them by any other name.

LOL.
i agree, scahill wiped the floor with the other guy….
and amy, as always, did a great job of being fair and asking good questions.

p.s. as i keep saying, democracy now! is the best daily news program in the english language that i know of. was very surprised to learn that many progressive blog readers (and writers) don’t listen/watch on a regular basis. i now consider it my duty that if anyone at FDL isn’t watching DN! it’s not because they don’t know about it. *g*

Just read it. And his reasoning in that article is PRECIOUSLY WHY I support him. No more fighting the 60s. The hipsters v. the Jocks, free love v. free markets. Obama is saying that stick to your guns, go back to the pricipals that define this country, and stop with the partisan bickering, no matter what side of the line you fall on. This whole idea that, “the republicans had their turn, now it’s our turn” stuff has to end. The “Democrats” has Slick Willy, and the “Republicans” had Dubya. It is time for a new perspective. I think Obama is the choice, but would love to see the Blogs back either Obama or Edwards soon before it is too late.

I have said many times that the Dems would be committing suicide if Hillary gets the nomination. The Repugs can’t wait to see her get it. And yes, the Repugs are afraid of John Edwards…No doubt of that.

Those include Grassley of Iowa who wrote he abomination called The bankruptcy act

and told me that the tax cuts would not go proportionally 40% to the rich(if the DEATH tax had passed.)

selise, I wanted to thank you for your comment last thread about the MA health plan and your experience with it. My son has not signed on yet (part time @ Tedeschi’s convenience store, he’ll be subsidized) and it was really helpful to hear that you are doing better on it than not.

It’s also important to mention again what Selise said earlier, that nobody in MA has been fined, even thought he first deadline was July 1, and there will not be people in jail over not finding insurance. the people who can, I think, get in real trouble are businesses that don’t make a good faith effort to participate in ensuring their employees have insurance.

I am insured through my employer but have been in many places on the spectrum including MAHealth (Medicaid). My firstborn and my former husband are both uninsured and outside MA and I really worry about it. My son is employed now, so may be able to access, but my ex is a puppeteer/artist who broke a shoulder or arm last year and had a pretty tough time of it.

thanks zennurse. i hope your son can get signed up soon at least that would be one less worry.

i just wish the subsidies were available on all the negotiated plans… i’m scared to change to one of the subsidised plans from my current BCBS plan, since i know that BCBS will cover all my drs and meds (and they have pretty good customer service too – how weird is that?).

but, in the long run, i still don’t see how MA is going to be able to pay for this… it seems we could save a lot of money by going to single payer.

i agree with you about the “taking turns” and “bickering”… and i am no fan of “slick willie”. but that doesn’t mean obama is going to be better than clinton. in obama i see something i see in too many dems in congress… i don’t see him standing up and fighting for principles, i see him as trying to go along to get along.. (except that he was certainly willing to call out the blogs in a way he hasn’t called out the Rs in congress) and i think these times need more than that.

but mostly obama is a cipher to me. maybe he’d make a great president… but i just don’t have enough evidence to conclude that yet.

The two things with Obama are that he has not tried to engage with us in the blogosphere and he has not taken a leadership role on issues important to us. For instance, he is against the Iraq War but he has made no attempt to lead the fight against it.

I wan to tbelieve in Obama, but the Don King and Tony Rezko stuff just makes me pause. I do not want to have to deal with anoter Democratic presidency crippled by petty corruption. No more Slick Willie stuff.

I understand your apprehensions with Obama, both of you. I just don’t happen to agree with them. What are your options? HRC, Edwards, Biden, Dodd, Kucinich? (I’m going to assume any R is not an option. Correct me if I’m wrong). All the above-mentioned Dems have been in the Beltway for far too long to be objective. They’ve been stained by the DC status quo. Kucinich is too divisive among his own(?) party. Obama has had relationships with some questionable characters, but compare these people with the questionable people that the others have slept with. I’m not going to campaign for him in this venue. I’m just saying my good money is on Obama because I want something different. I don’t expect perfection because that’s impossible. We’re all human and make some stupid choices from time to time. But, I refuse to support more of the same.

Those include Grassley of Iowa who wrote he abomination called The bankruptcy act

The investment and commercial banks in conjunction with Bush and Greenspan created and planned for the current credit crunch and sub-prime mortgage ongoing disaster. They created a hyper upward spiraling real estate market. Homeowners believed their homevalue tripled. Pulled out the ‘fantasy equity’ and did what Bush told them to do; “go shopping” and keep the economy running. Well, we’ve reached the crash and burn cycle, house values dropping, no equity left, mortgage resets, closets overflowing with cheap toxic chinese crapola, over-priced gas guzzling SUV’s repossession, and the sheriff is kicking down the front door and repossessing your overpriced home. The bank owned credit card companies will throw you in ‘debtor’s prison’ or better yet make us indentured servants until you pay the credit card companies with astronomical interest until death do us part. All to avoid a milder recession. Welcome to the Depression.

i agree with you about the “taking turns” and “bickering”… and i am no fan of “slick willie”. but that doesn’t mean obama is going to be better than clinton. in obama i see something i see in too many dems in congress… i don’t see him standing up and fighting for principles, i see him as trying to go along to get along.. (except that he was certainly willing to call out the blogs in a way he hasn’t called out the Rs in congress) and i think these times need more than that.

but mostly obama is a cipher to me. maybe he’d make a great president… but i just don’t have enough evidence to conclude that yet.

I have no use for Obama, and this is why. He punches down and kisses up. Remember the Obama Myspace fiasco? He can talk all he wants, but actions speak louder, and I haven’t seen actions from him that are worthy of much respect.

Thanks for the heads up on Scahill on DemNow. Know I’m prejudiced but it did appear he ran the idiot from the “professional” organization with “peace” in its name off the track. Am glad to have the bit about these people hating to be called “mercenaries” confirmed…….will insure that I never refer to them by any other name.

LOL.
i agree, scahill wiped the floor with the other guy….
and amy, as always, did a great job of being fair and asking good questions.

p.s. as i keep saying, democracy now! is the best daily news program in the english language that i know of. was very surprised to learn that many progressive blog readers (and writers) don’t listen/watch on a regular basis. i now consider it my duty that if anyone at FDL isn’t watching DN! it’s not because they don’t know about it. *g*

Obama has had his balls out for sometime now but the Blogs don’t like him, and I have no idea why. He is a superstar–the only chance to change things and end up on monuments.

Little Mister Obama has expressed to much fondness of the nuclear option WRT other countries for me to comfortable with the thought of him having access to the football.

I’d like to see Edwards/Dodd on the ticket.

‘fondness of the nuclear option WRT other countries’

I’m curious and don’t quite understand what your are saying. Do you mean that he likes too much the possiblity of having control of our nukes or that he’s too willing to allow other countries to also enjoy the same nuclear capabilities that we have?

Little Mister Obama has expressed to much fondness of the nuclear option WRT other countries for me to comfortable with the thought of him having access to the football.

I’d like to see Edwards/Dodd on the ticket.

‘fondness of the nuclear option WRT other countries’

I’m curious and don’t quite understand what your are saying. Do you mean that he likes too much the possiblity of having control of our nukes or that he’s too willing to allow other countries to also enjoy the same nuclear capabilities that we have?

I watched Obama during the Condi Rice and John Bolton nomination hearings he rolled over. While Kerry, Kennedy, Boxer, Lincoln Chaffee and a few others played hardball. I was not impressed with Obama at that time,and I can’t quite get those hearings out of my brain.

FISA is not and was never meant to cover either purely domestic or purely foreign intelligence surveillance. For the foreign cases, there has never been any restriction on the US surveilling foreign to foreign communications. For domestic cases, you establish probable cause before a judge and get a warrant.

FISA before it was gutted covered communications where one end was domestic and the other foreign. You needed a probable cause but the bar on this was set very low and almost no FISA requested warrants have ever been denied by the FISA court.

There have been several rationales put forward for gutting FISA: that it was cumbersome, that it prohibited foreign-foreign communications routed through the US, etc.

If you have been listening to the hearings, you will have heard the term reverse targeting. If the government says it is targeting a non-citizen individual outside the US, then it can without going to FISA listen in on conversations where one end originates in the US. It is a way of doing an end run around FISA.

You may also have heard the term minimization. Supposedly irrelevant or inconsequential communications originating in the US or involving US citizens would be discarded. But the people who are doing the tapping are the ones who are making the determinations on who is really being targeted and which conversations should be “minimized” i.e. eliminated. And we have only their word that this is being done. In other words, they are saying Trust us which if experience has taught us anything about this Administration is not a good idea.

Get Tough @ 111:
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let’s not hold it against Obama. Obama has extended his hand across the isle to die-in-the-wool Repubs his whole political career, while maintaining his stature as a true progressive.